Paddy Donovan aims to “take home big medals for my country”

It’s hard not to like Paddy Donovan.

The Limerick lightweight is a very talented fighter who has a grin permanently etched across his face, he just loves boxing.

The Our Lady of Lourdes teen claimed top prize at the National Under-18s Championships on Saturday, his eighth Irish title, with a win over Mayo’s Aaron Daly.

Donovan was made to work for his victory over the tall Castlebar boxer, but produced the more frequent and eye-catching shots in a tactical bout.

Afterwards the 2015 World Junior silver medalist spoke to Irish-Boxing.com that “I’m just very happy today that I got the result that I wanted.”

“I was runner-up there a couple of months ago against Oliver McCarthy in a close fight I honestly thought I got, but he went on to do well in the European Championships and take home silver.”

“I trained very hard for this competition, I was very hungry to win this title.”

“I had three fights in the tournament, one was stopped, one went the distance, and in the final I didn’t box my best, far from my best, but I’m just happy to get over the line and get to the World Championships where I was last year.

Despite it only being Donovan’s first year at under-18 level, he is confident of making an impact at the World Youth Championships in St Petersburg this November. The Munster fighter outlined how “I won the World silver last year in the World Junior Championships so I’m eager now to get the gold this time.”

“I’m the younger side of these championships, so anything I get now I’ll take it.”

“I’d say I’ll be the perfect size next year, so I’ve this year and next year to take home big medals for my country.”